Metal Gear Solid

[JaySuthEFC]

Hey guys, today I ordered MGS4 and the HD collection, I will also download MS on the PSN store, now I know they order of the games differs to 1-4 etc, i believe 3 is first?

Anyway which order should I play them in? Or should I just play them as they were released? Cheers!

[mgspro]

The actual order of those 4 is: 3 > 1 > 2 > 4

But it maybe hard going from the gameplay improvements of 3 back to 1 & 2. So it maybe worth playing them 1, 2, 3, 4. But its up to you. If you play 3 first just don't skip 1. It may be really different gameplay wise but it has the best story.

[Loco311]

I can't tell you why you should, but play them 1,2,3,4, PW. Or, given that you bought the HD collection you could always start with the very early metal gear 1 and 2. (this differs from metal gear solid 1 and 2).

Ultimately its up to you, but personally I'd play 1,2,3,4 PW then, if you enjoyed all that, and took everything in play MG1 and 2 simply for the plot.

You could always read up on metal gear 1 and 2 elsewhere, peace walker makes a bit more sense if you know some of the metal gear plot.

As for the aforementioned technical advancement reasoning, I have to say I do struggle with MGS1 having played 2 and 3.

[ytevo79]

I played the series in order of production.

Like with anything they go better in the order they was made IMO. Like I watch Star Wars starting with the originals. It looks so much better when the technology advances and not goes from good to bad

[Solid_Snake12345]

If you've not yet started playing them yet, 1 -> 2 ->3 -> 4 -> Peace Walker (although I recommend not playing four but if you're going to do it in production order). Chronologically would diminish the impact of the story as it was designed during the production of the series.

[MrGarry2u]

I played them 3, PO, PW, 1, 2, 4 last time I did them all.

[hilaryduff]

Good question, and for anyone else who’s interested. 

Having two different friends ask me the same question I thought it would be a good idea to tell them to play in different orders and see what they thought. 

My 1st mate said playing the game in the order of the story was allot of fun because you take off where you left off in a way, so it’s like a very long movie. (3 > 1 > 2 > 4) 

My 2nd friend said he liked the idea of each game having new controls as he moved up but found it confusing with the story as he was referring back quite allot. (1 >2 >3 >4) 

[kiwiatlarge]

Games, movies and books are also best 'read' in order of release, because that is the way they are written.. Star Wars would have been a good example of this, had Lucas not made a hash of the prequels and rewritten dialogue and scenes of the originals.

In the case of MGS, you should play MGS3 after 1 and 2 because the characters will actually mean something to you... in particular the relationships and stories of Big Boss (Naked Snake) and Ocelot are best narrated that way..

The other really good example I used to use was the Tom Clancy 'Jack Ryan' universe of books... Many of them are written out of order. The first two are in reverse order... The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games... There are minor details about Ryan that make better sense reading them in the order they were written.. Of course, Hollywood retconned the order and made Patriot Games a sequel, and worse yet, made The Sum of All Fears a prequel... actual a reboot would be more accurate... One of the last books written on the Jack Ryan character is a very early prequel, yet imo should still be read after all the others..